Trying to Subdue our Consumptive Hunger

Sometimes it is so hard to remember the things that really matter in life, even when I strive to do so every single day.  God has blessed me with so much, yet so often I forget to be thankful and respectful of those blessings.

Steve and I have felt a little down lately, mainly because we are disappointed in ourselves for giving into our materialistic urges to consume, consume, consume.  We are both so sick of acquiring things, thinking we want them and assuming they will make us happy.  We both feel the need to simplify our lives, and it is even more important now that we have added another little person to our household (who has so many things of his own) and now that we are serious about buying a home.

Today we spent nearly all day going through our house and finding things we did/do not need in our lives anymore.  It was such a productive day, both emotionally and financially, and was such a blessing to us both.  I pray that we both keep this day in mind as we strive to live more simply.  One thing I do when trying to subdue that consumptive hunger is to look back on a peaceful, love filled moment and remember my goal to live a simpler and thereby much more fulfilling life.  Moments like these:

The only way to make a house a true home is to fill it only with things that the occupants really and truly love, and that is something to think of before making any purchase.  Do I really love the item I am thinking of purchasing?  Is it something that we need or want in our home and thoughts and heart?  The answer is almost always no.

Now that we are blessed with the amazing responsibility of raising a child, we find it even more important to model a lifestyle that we are proud of and would fully encourage Riggs to follow.  As parent, we teach mostly by example, and so it is so important to us that we get our lives in order so that we can feel great about Riggs imitating us, which he is sure to do.

One reason I believe our society feels such a strong consumptive hunger is because our attention spans are so underdeveloped.  Remember back before the iPhone, when you could actually read an entire book without stopping to check your Facebook?  That only happens every once in a while now for me, when I am reading an exceptionally riveting book.  Remember when you were a child and could spend all day playing outside with no toys to speak of and never get bored?  I do and I wish I could do the same today.  I want so desperately to stretch my attention span back out so that I can fully focus on each task I undertake.

Stillness is so important to my mental wellbeing and yet I have a hard time being along with just my thoughts for more than five minutes before I feel that horrible pull towards my phone or computer.  I am working on this, and have found that the more I simplify my home and life the better I become at disconnecting myself from the technology that steals so much of my time.

As I have been working on this in my own life, I have also been trying hard to keep Riggs' life as simple and natural as it can possibly be.  I try to shield him from overstimulation, as I can plainly see how adverse of an affect it has on him.  He is not comfortable being held all of the time, or with having toys in his face.  He is at his happiest when sitting or laying on the couch (with me close enough that he can feel my presence) and gazing out at the world around him, cooing and smiling and kicking his pudgy little legs.  Of course, he also loves to snuggle with his mamma while he nurses and when he's sleepy, but when he's alert he needs stillness and quiet just as much as he needs a healthy amount of stimulation.

I read something on another blog that I felt compelled to share, as it rang so true to me and I want to remember and think on it as I try to be a good mamma to my sweet little boy:

"This idea of boredom comes from the adult mind. If the child is allowed from a very young age to explore with depth, then they won't require change, change, change. It is the adult who says, here's this new toy, this new book, oh look at that and then that and then that, let's do this now that...rather then just allowing the child to be at his or her own pace with a few simple things. It is also suggested in Waldorf that children read the same few picture books for a whole season. If we guide our children towards depth, they will develop it and continually see new things and discover creative ways of playing and doing and being, not to mention the magic therein. If you keep introducing new, new, new then you create consumptive hunger and therefore a lack of satisfaction. It takes real mindfulness on the part of the adult to look at how we encourage boredom and the desire for new and more in the child."